UF Law Professor to Speak on the Constitution and Government Surveillance Sept. 19

slobogin_small GAINESVILLE, FL—As part of the University of Florida’s Constitution Day activities, Levin College of Law Professor Chris Slobogin will speak noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the law school’s Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom (Holland Hall, room 180) on “The Constitution and Surveillance by the Government.” This event is free and open to the public.

Recent news reports have been replete with accounts of secret government programs designed to monitor not only the communications of foreign nationals but also of American citizens. Less well known are government efforts, particularly prolific in the wake of 9/11, to obtain vast amounts of information about everyday transactions of Americans and mine it for information, and to observe, through digital cameras and other surveillance devices, our physical activities. How much of this surveillance, if any, is governed by the Constitution and, if it isn’t, should it be? Slobogin will address these and related issues at a level that is accessible—and interesting—to the campus community and the general public.

Slobogin occupies the Stephen C. O’Connell chair at the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law. His book, Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment, will soon be published by the University of Chicago Press. He has written extensively on the Constitution and law enforcement issues.